What's been happening...

Sutton on the Forest Preschool has enjoyed a fabulously fun and thoughtful first term and we would like to share some what we have been doing with you.

We promote health and happiness at Preschool, inspired by the HENRY incentive. Sharing and enjoying food together has developed a great attitude to exploring new foods, understanding what healthy food is and enjoying it. We have grown food together and our strawberries and potatoes were a great success this year. We have cooked, baked, chopped and stewed and our snack times are like visiting our favourite café with our best friends. We would also like to praise our parents for sending their children to preschool with well balanced packed lunches that perfectly supports their development of healthy eating habits. Of course, with all that fuel in us we need to vent that energy and build strong bodies. Based at the Village Hall we are very lucky to not only have great outside space but also a great indoor space. The large hall enables lots of opportunity for movement and regular, easy access to dancing, ring games, soft play, obstacle courses, action songs and one of our more recent developments, kids’ yoga which has proved very popular. Not content with all that we have been out and about in the village to enjoy the changing season on walks, rambles though the wood and playing in the park.

This term we have linked up with the village hall committee to share in the Remembrance of lost service men and women. This has been an new subject to explore with our young children and they have shown lots of interest as we have researched uniforms, medals, and the

roles people have played. We have explored aircraft and how it has developed over 100 years, medical developments and the roles of animals in war. We have been particularly keen to look at dogs and how they continue to be invaluable assets in their service to people. If anyone has access to such as a guide dog or service trained dog, we would love to hear from you to arrange a visit.

Our new starters have settled well, we take time to get to know new children by sharing play and talking to parents. We provide activities we know they are interested in and we are particularly proud of our 3 & 4 year olds who take on a buddy role by helping and setting good examples for our younger children to follow.

As we head towards Christmas the excitement builds, we have plans to visit Sutton on the Forest Primary School to share Christmas lunch with them and watch their nativity. We will also visit them to sing carols around their Christmas tree and they will visit us to share books and inspire us with their reading skills. We have strong links with the School and it gives great opportunities for preschoolers to become comfortable and familiar with the school environment, older pupils and teachers. Not all our families have chosen which primary school they wish their child to progress onto, but this is still a broadening and confidence building experience that benefits them all.

Our Christmas fair is on Sunday 2nd December and we hope to see lots of old and new friends there supporting this fun &

festive fundraising event.

We run a parent/carer and toddlers’ group on Friday mornings 9-11am which gives a great opportunity for prospective families to see what our Preschool looks and feels like, but everyone is welcome even if you do not intend to make use of our Preschool. On Friday 30th November our Mothers Union ladies will join us to make the advent wreath for church as well as individual arrangements for children to take home. It will be a lovely opportunity for them to meet some of our parents with babies and toddlers and a nice activity to share if you have not visited us yet.

Summer

A fabulous time was had by all at Monk Park farm. The weather was glorious and the children really enjoyed looking at and feeding the animals.

March

We were lucky to have a visit from the Mother's Union ladies. The children made spring flower posies for mothers day.

October

Sutton on the Forest Preschool would like to say Thank-You for the generous donations given to us by The Huby & Sutton Gardening Club,our local Country Women and The Gowans Trust. The monies are much appreciated and have funded a replacement playhouse along with some lovely accessories, gardening tools and resources that make us look forward to the next growing season, some bug exploring boxes so we will know what might like to nibble on the vegetables we grow and also some outdoors construction resources.

Looking forward, over the next month and beyond the Mothers Union ladies Olivia, Pam, Chris & Mary will visit again soon to make the advent wreath for Sutton Church, plus the children will make individual ones to take home.

Next year we look forward to welcoming the Gardening Club to inspire some more growing and plant care in our children.It’s wonderful to have this support from our village and community. Providing a rich and stimulating learning environment for our Preschool children is something we love to do and these donations and support directly enable this, so A Big Thank-You from us all.